Suicide in 1836 England

DavidZahir said:

A few questions:

1. Suppose a wealthy man wished to kill himself quickly and painlessly, preferably without leaving any proof his was a suicide. I'm presuming he might drink a bottle of something powerful like laudenum or morphine, throw the bottle away, walk back into his house, lock the door to his study and wait. Does that sound workable? If so, what do you think he swallowed and what would be the signs?

2. Given that suicide might be suspected, what would the official Anglican view of such an act be and how would that impact subsequent events? Like--lacking proof of suicide, could he still be buried in hallowed ground?

Thanks in advance!

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For 2 I would think it would depend entirely on how much influence/money his family have

If he wanted to make a poisoning not look like suicide, then he should make it look like poisoning. Regardless of what he took to kill himself, there are things like certain mushrooms or other plants that look enough like benign ones for people to make an easy mistake in using the wrong ones. All he'd have to do is drink his poison of choice, then munch on the toxic variety of plant, making sure to die with some still on the table as though it caught him off guard. That way, when he was found the poisoning wouldn't be questioned. It would be a tragic accident.

Arsenic was still a favourite, later tests on Napoleon suggest he could have died from arsenic poisoning.

Actually...

suicide was a crime, (only legalised in the mid 1900s, 1952 waylander?) illegal because ungodly, and treated as such.

Obviously a successful suicide could not be punished, but his family would be punished socially.

So an honour thing, blowing out one's brains to preserve the family honour, would be glossed over if possible. There have been notable/wealthy/respected families with a clear suicide which was turned into accidental death at the inquest.

If there was serious doubt, and for the church this would have to be more than hearsay, about a death the body would not be buried in an Anglican graveyard, but it was amazing what families with a family tomb, vault or crypt could manage.

Arsenic is slow and painful and might be recognised. I like the poison plus seen eating mushrooms idea. Suggest yew berries/leaves as tea, or hemlock both of which might grow in his garden.

Were there guns? Could he shoot himself and the family claim an accident? (I think revolvers date from about this period... maybe)

Maybe he could take the poison and fall into the Thames if it is close, and they would probably think he drowned when his body was found.

DavidZahir said:

He's nowhere near London, and his body must be intact.

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Oh. Well - there goes the gun idea....

Arsenic doesn't meet with the painless requirement. Laudanum is a good possibility. He wouldn't necessarily even need to dispose of the bottle. Accidental overdose would be a reasonable conclusion.

I wonder if you've looked at the Dictionary of Victorian London (on line). I've found it useful when I wanted information for a suicide of one of my people. I found a report called The Earthing of a Felo-de-se. And a lot more besides.

I seem to recall a certain tradition of burying suicides at cross-roads in England in the early 19th century, but it could be older than that and discontinued by then. Victorians were pretty obsessed with death and death customs. I've found http://www.victorianlondon.org/ to be a good resource as well.

If the character is known as a hypochondriac, then the laudanum idea would work well. While people develop high tolerances to opiates quickly, it doesn't take all that much extra to kill. You might toss in a few extra medicines just to make it quicker.

If he was a hypochondriac he would have taken all sorts of medicines.

Laudanum was in many different medicines and accidental overdoses must have happened quite often.

Morphine was first made just after 1800 and sold commercially from about 1830. It was thought to be safe and free from the problems of opium.

It was not injected until the 1850s when hypodermic needles were invented, so you would need to have him take enough to kill him.
A hypochondriac in the 1830s would have quite a large tolerance for opiates.

It would be very difficult for a doctor to know if an overdose had been taken accidentally or deliberately. Especially if the person was in the habit of taking it.

Unless a note was found.

So, here's a scenario. Your person kills himself, in his room, with either laudanum or morphine. His family find him and remove any note that he had left.

The doctor comes and declares him dead. Even if the doctor has doubts he is not going to say. He wants to get paid, for a start, and there was no death certificate to be filled in. That didn't start till 1837.

The parish priest is informed of the sad and accidental event, it's recorded in the parish records and the burial takes place in the family crypt, vault, whatever.

Notices are placed in newspapers, and the sad event is mentioned in periodicals such as 'The Gentleman's Magazine'.

Either no one knows, or those that know or guess are keeping quiet.

Same as if he'd blown his head off with a gun. For a Baronet that would be a sad accident whilst cleaning the thing.

In this circumstance, if the church suspected it would keep its mouth shut.

You just didn't make that sort of accusation against the nobs. He would have had to have committed suicide in a public place, and done it very obviously, and even then they would have tried to pass it off as an unfortunate accident, a joke that went wrong or temporary insanity.

He would not have been buried at a crossroads. This was stopped by law in the 1820's. It's possible it carried on for poor people in obscure rural villages, but not for baronets.

This will be of interest to you.
http://www.victorianweb.org/books/suicide/01.html

Why the locked room? Is that important to the plot? If not he could fall down stairs and break his neck - though if he was unlucky he could break his leg instead. A riding accident could also prove fatal. Accidentally shoots himself whilst cleaning his gun.
The Suicide Act 1961 see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_Act_1961

DavidZahir said:

My suicide victim is fairly wealthy (a baronet) and renowned as a hypocondriac. Methinks maybe he simply swallowed a large dose of morphine in a locked room.

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Prussic acid (Cyanide solution) was a common medicine for various things.

It was also a well-known suicide method.

Until relatively recently, a coroner's court in England was very reluctant to bring in a suicide verdict. They wouldn't do so at all without a note. We've had accidental deaths while playing, deaths during auto-erotic games, deaths that were 'pranks gone wrong'...hangings, in other words.